The battle of the hosts at the 2025 Women’s Cricket World Cup went the way of India in an intriguing match in Guwahati.
A crowd of 22,843 were present at the Assam Cricket Association Stadium, breaking the previous record of 15,935 for the highest attendance of a group match at either the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup or ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
And they were treated to a seesaw affair, with India eventually winning by 58 runs.
While the final result was a comfortable victory for the home side, they needed a century stand for the seventh wicket from Amanjot Kaur and Deepti Sharma to rescue a perilous situation with the bat.
Sharma then played a starring role with the ball, taking three for 54, as Sri Lanka fell short of the 270 runs they needed in 47 overs after the game was shortened due to a couple of rain delays.
AMANJOT AND SHARMA SET PLATFORM FOR INDIA
India suffered an early blow when Smriti Mandhana picked out Vishmi Gunaratne at deep point off the bowling of Udeshika Prabodhani for just eight.
Harleen Deol joined Pratika Rawal and the pair proceeded to build slowly, adding 67 either side of a rain delay, before a second catch for Gunaratne, Inoka Ranaweera removing Rawal for 37.
With skipper Harmanpreet Kaur entering the fray, the game was evenly poised, with India 81 for two in the 20th over.
The pair combined to add 39 in six overs before a dramatic collapse sparked by Ranaweera (4/46).
The spinner kicked things off by snagging Deol for 48 as she misjudged a lifted drive and chipped to extra cover.
Jemimah Rodrigues was then beaten all ends up and bowled the next ball before a third wicket in the over, the skipper, caught behind for 21.
Suddenly, India were in all sorts of trouble and things got worse when Richa Ghosh found Prabodhani off the bowling of Chamari Athapaththu for two.
That brought Amanjot Kaur to the crease, joining Deepti Sharma with India 124 for six.
Stability was the order of the day and the pair proceeded to bat positively to rebuild, with Amanjot taking a few extra chances on her way to a brilliant 57.
She was helped by some fielding errors, dropped three times on her way to a half-century on her World Cup debut.
Eventually Gunaratne held onto arguably the toughest chance of the lot, a brilliant grab near the boundary off Prabodhani to end the partnership at 103.
A second rain delay had reduced the innings to 47 overs and Sneh Rana made a valuable contribution down the order.
She hit a pair of sixes on her way to an unbeaten 28 off just 15 balls, while Sharma completed her half-century, going for 53 off the final ball of the innings as India finished on a respectable 269 for eight.
SRI LANKAN CHASE FOILED BY SHARMA
In reply, Sri Lanka made a solid start before Hasini Perera missed a straight one-off debutant Kranti Gaud and was bowled for 14.
Chamari Athapaththu and Harshitha Samarawickrama added 52 for the second wicket before Sharma took the all-important wicket of the Sri Lankan skipper.
Athapaththu had looked dangerous with four fours and three sixes but was beaten by a full delivery from Sharma, departing bowled for 43.
Samarawickrama was next to go, trapped in front by Shree Charani for 29 with Vishmi Gunaratne (11) suffering the same fate off Amanjot to leave Sri Lanka 105 for four.
The chase was starting to falter, and Sharma grabbed a second wicket when Kaveesha Dilhari edged one behind for 15.
Sharma continued to chip away, with Anushka Sanjeewani (6) next to go before Sneh Rana got in on the act, getting Nilakshika Silva (35) and Sugandika Kumari (10), both bowled.
Achini Kulasuriya fell with 200 not yet up before Pratika Rawal finished off proceedings with eight balls to spare.
India v Sri Lanka – Assam Cricket Association Stadium, Guwahati, India
India 269/8 in 47 overs (Amanjot Kaur 57, Deepti Sharma 53; Inoka Ranaweera 4/46, Udeshika Prabodhani 2/55)
Sri Lanka 211 all out in 45.4 overs (Chamari Athapaththu 43, Nilakshika Silva 35; Deepti Sharma 3/54, Sneh Rana 2/32)
India won by 58 runs
Devine Melon
Bails, the horizontal pegs that sit on top of the stumps, are not attached to the top surface. Instead, they rest on shallow grooves on the free ends of the stumps. Bails are critical for determining if the wicket has been put down or broken. This in turn will help identify the status of the batsman, if he has been run out, out bowled, or stumped.
Threshmstr
Cricket became an Olympic sport in 1896. However, no matches were held because there was an insufficient number of teams who attended. Had the sport been played that year, cricket would have earned the distinction of being the only team sport to be played at the time. The first Olympic match in the next Olympics (1900) was participated in by the men’s teams. Great Britain (represented by the Devon and Somerset Wanderers) won gold.